


Double Axel

by Aragarna



Category: White Collar
Genre: Episode Tag, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-15
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-31 03:00:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6452797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragarna/pseuds/Aragarna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>episode tag to 5x06, Ice Breaker. Peter wants to make things better for El.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Double Axel

Peter’s heart was heavy when he left his Brooklyn house that morning. Elizabeth was distressed, he could feel it, and it was breaking his heart. It was unsettling to see her like that, uncertain, fragile, unhappy. It wasn’t all the time, and it wasn’t anything obvious, but it was in the way she would hold him a little closer and a little longer every morning at the door, and every night when he came home. It was in her more swinging mood, or in certain remarks about his job, like this morning. It went all the way back to his arrest. Actually, probably the car accident, but they didn’t really had time to work this particular event out before the sky finished to fall on their heads.

Elizabeth was shaken, and Peter didn’t know what to do to fix it, making it right for her.

She was usually a strong and upbeat woman, a trait – among many – that Peter truly loved about her. She would not let troubles and fears take the best out of her. Elizabeth was a fighter. But the murder accusation and Peter’s prison stay – keeping him away from her for 6 long weeks – had left their marks.

Not that Peter could blame her. He couldn’t deny he had himself been shaken by the recent events. It wasn’t as much his short stay in prison, which had been mainly uneventful, as the fear to be losing everything for good. His life with Elizabeth. His life as an FBI Agent. His freedom and all the purposes that gave him a reason to be alive. The unknown, that’s what had been the hardest.

He didn’t know how he would have kept it all together if it hadn’t been for Elizabeth, who visited him so often, who had been strong when he was feeling low, who had kept hope when he was losing faith.

Now, it was his turn to be there for her. It wasn’t something easy to fix. It wasn’t a matter of righting a wrong, or plugging a hole. There’s no patch to keep fears at large. But with time, patience and attentions, Peter hoped that it would fade away.

Elizabeth needed him, and Peter would make it his number one priority – not that it wasn’t always – to be a perfect husband, spending time together, being on time for diner, and coming home unscathed.

And first, they would go skating this weekend.  


\----------------------------------

  
Peter glanced at his watch. It was surprisingly early. He was getting good at the ASAC paperwork. The takedown had gone smoothly, between the evidence found on location and Katya’s testimony, they would have more than enough to charge Sergei and all his Russian friends. That was one nice and smooth case report.

It had been a really cool undercover operation, pretending to be a skating coach, sliding along with Katya in the middle of an empty rink. It had recalled him some of his best childhood memories.

It would have been fun to do this with Elizabeth. Peter smiled, imagining El, in Katya’s outfit. But images of their second date contradicted a little his imagination.

 

Katya appeared at the door of his office, interrupting his trail of thoughts. She had just finished giving her statement to Jones and seemed on her way out.

“I wanted to thank you for what you did, Agent Burke.”

Peter looked up from his files and smiled. “Well, thank you for helping us catching Sergei and his associates,” he said as he got up to walk her to the elevator.

“If there is anything…”she asked?

The words just rushed out of his mouth before he fully realized what he was doing. “Actually, there is. Would you mind if I borrow your skates for tonight?”

The young Russian opened wide eyes. She was obviously not expecting that kind of request. Peter shot an embarrassed smile.

“That’s for my wife. I’m thinking of taking her to the rink tonight, but she doesn’t have skates of her own.”

Katya smiled. “Oh sure.” She dug into her purse and handed Peter a key. “Locker 11,” she explained, seeing Peter’s puzzled expression. “I didn’t get a chance to take my belongings with me before the FBI closed the place. They’re still there.”

“Oh right.” Peter chuckled. “Thank you Katya. I’m sorry about the FBI process. What if I drop you your belongings tomorrow then?”

“That would be very kind of you.”

Peter hold the door of his office, stepping aside to let Katya out, who almost collided on Neal who was heading their way, coming from the one blind spot of this all-glass office.

“What is that, Peter? Planning on trespassing on a crime scene?”

Peter shot him a look. “It’s not trespassing, I’m the investigator.”

\----------------------------

  
Peter pushed the door and was greeted by a golden ball of fur throwing itself in his legs. Peter laughed at the dog’s enthusiasm and patted him kindly on the head.

El was in the living room, sat at the table, working on her tablet. She got up, head tilted and a warm smile illuminating her beautiful face. Peter managed to free himself from Satchmo and opened his arms to offer his wife a gentle hug. She kissed him briefly before pulling him closer.

“Hi, hon,” he said softly.

“Hi hon,” she breathed, tugging her head in his shoulder.

They remained silent a few seconds, Peter delicately rubbing her back.

“You’re early,” El noted finally.

“I’ve a surprise for you.”

Elizabeth looked up, eyes sparkling with wonder and delight. “A surprise?”

“Dress up warmly, we’re going skating.”

El’s smile broadened and pulling Peter’s head with both hands, she kissed him happily.

“Oh and hon, you probably should take a pair of gloves. Ice’s cold,” Peter winked.

\--------------------------

  
“Okay, tell me how to turn again.”

Slowly and with caution, Peter let go one hand. Still holding firmly Elizabeth by the other hand, he turned around to guide her, careful not to disturb her precarious balance.

“Alright, just put pressure on the outside blade, and lead,” he instructed.

Elizabeth did as she was told. Peter felt her hand holding his tight as she struggled to maintain balance. She slid and gradually turned.

“Oh! Oh like that?” A proud and luminous smile appeared on El’s face.

“There you go. Good,” Peter said, smiling back. Despite the cold radiating from the ice, he was feeling a delicious warmth wrapping his heart as he watched Elizabeth, relaxed and happy. Sliding hand in hand on the ice, they both forgot the outside world and its share of worries. At that moment, it was just the two of them, together…

Suddenly, Elizabeth lost balance. Peter tried to pull her close, while she struggled to remain on her two legs. She leaned on him as he pulled her up, and for a moment he thought they would both sprawl on the ice, like twin bambis. Giggling, they managed to regain balance.

“I got you,” Peter whispered as he hold Elizabeth close, securing her in his arms.

She tilted her head and looked at him. “You always do.”

The oblique light from the projector was enhancing the curves of her face. Her lips, her chin, her cheeks, reddened by the cold air. Peter lost himself a moment in her sparkling eyes, looking amorously at him. Elizabeth was just as radiant as she was the first time he caught sight of her, at that gallery downtown.  
Once again Peter felt how lucky he was. Elizabeth was a treasure that he would cherish and protect forever.

\------------------------------------

  
Back in the locker room, they took their skates off and Peter gathered the few things that belonged to Katya: two pairs of skates, a sport bag with skate outfits and a few accessories; nothing that could be of any use for the investigation.

On their way out, Elizabeth slid her hand in his.

“It was a lovely idea, hon. Thank you.”

Peter put a kiss on her cheek, and wrapped his arm around her waist.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too.”

FIN.


End file.
